Wrestling team pins down spirit and opponents

Wrestling is an often overlooked sport on campus. When most people on campus think of wrestling, they are reminded of the exaggerated ac

Tamara Nicolaevitchs on girls wrestling team

ting that goes on in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) television.

However, though people disregard it because it is often portrayed as just two people pulling each other to the ground, this sport includes much more than meets the eye.

Wrestling is a sport that requires commitment and passion. It also requires a certain mentality that some students would call insanity. Students will dedicate a month training and preparing for a six minute match. As a combat sport, the objective is to physically dominate the opponent and pin them to the mat.

Using techniques such as single or double leg takedown, as well as different types of grips and starting positions, wrestlers are able to better pin their opponents.

Entering the wrestling world gives students the opportunity to learn and experience lessons that can be applicable in the future.

“It teaches students work ethic, discipline, accountability, and courage to use as an adult,” coach Santos Delgadillo said.

Wrestling changes a person’s mentality and creates personality traits that can be useful to one’s well-being.

“Before I joined wrestling, I was shy and had no friends, no confidence. But once I joined the team, I created deep bonds,” junior Steven Armenta said.

What distinguishes wrestling from other sports is that though it is an individual sport, the team works to help the individual be successful. In other sports, athletes can blame their teammates for mistakes, but in an individual sport, there is no one to blame but themselves. In situations like this, individuals need their team to help them improve.

“Wrestling is personal but requires a whole community to prepare for the fight. They cut weight together and work together. When alone, you don’t learn as much,” Delgadillo said.

There are teammates there to support the individual wrestler. They cry and sweat together. It’s helpful for the individual players because the teammates are there to cheer them on, to pick them up through tough times, and to celebrate with them in their best moments. They’re all passionate for the same sport. These students are committed and dedicated to this sport along with their teammates and their coaches.

“The team goal is to fill that hunger in them, that fight, they get a hunger, they get a passion. I’m not worried about the wins right now. I want them to fall in love with the sport,” Delgadillo said.

For both the girls and boys wrestling teams, the training is the same. The coaches make them practice the same drills, run the same sprints, and follow the same workouts.

“There’s no inequality. The girls do exactly the same things we do. These girls are fighters,” Armenta said.

Christy Jose, a junior on the girls wrestling team, is only one example of such a dedicated student athlete. She trains and competes with fire in her heart.

“Christy is always accepting a challenge, she’s down to fight. She has that warrior mentality,” Armenta said.

Jose is emblematic of all of the girls on the team because they each show that girls can be just as impressive competitors as their male teammates.

“Girls at Granada have that fight and hunger. You can’t teach someone to not quit, you either have it or you don’t. I can work with someone who doesn’t quit,” Delgadillo said.

Armenta echoed Delgadillo’s remarks about the girls on the team.

“I pulled up the first day of tryouts and almost died. I just stuck with it. Wrestling being hard made me want to stay there because everyone kept telling me I couldn’t do it,” Armenta said.

Anyone can be a part of the team, but to be successful, the students who join wrestling must be willing to work hard.

“I have kids from different backgrounds, freshmen to seniors, students taking AP, students not taking AP. We all have one thing in common: we all have wrestling and use it as a vehicle. We’re all doing one thing. We’re training and sweating together and from that something beautiful always grows,” Delgadillo said.

Show your support by going to their next meet on Thursday, November 8, at 6:00 p.m. in the gym!